It was recently announced that the state of Texas has a plan to put 1.13 million acres of state waters and bays along the Gulf of Mexico up for bid. Whilst doing this, Texas has been aiming to attract the attention of parties who are involved in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects.

These plans and this announcement highlight the clear growth in interest around CCS within Texas state waters. This interest is also connected to the development of the needed transportation network and carbon sequestration capacity.

It has been stated that the plan involves thirteen zones being opened up for bidding. These areas involve Brownsville, Freeport, and Galveston, along with areas around Matagorda, Calhoun, and Aransas counties. These areas were covered in a request for proposals which came from the Texas General Land Office and the School Land Board.

This carbon project is one in a long list of multiple carbon capture projects which have occurred over the past few years. It was in last September that the Texas General Land Office created a Repsol-led partnership a contract for over 140,000 gross acres of pore space. This space was owned by the Permanent School Fund for CO2 storage located off Corpus Christi, Texas. Another project which took place was started between Exxon and Enlink, who developed offshore CCS development within various Gulf Coast areas. The Houston Ship Channel, the Mississippi River Corridor, Lake Charles and southwest Louisiana and Port Arthur and Beaumont, were all places where this project occurred, with a specific focus on areas with high levels of industrial carbon dioxide emissions.